Not Vegetables!
by Username-not-taken
Summary: Taffyta wakes up for another day of racing, yet today is different. The other races keep laughing at her for an unknown reason, and even her stand of fans seem to be staring at her strangely. What's going on? Taffyta/Rancis


Taffyta let out a content sigh as she awoke, rubbing her eyes gently as she felt around for her helmet in the dark. It didn't take long for her to locate the headgear, which was placed on her bedside table as usual, albeit a little more to the right than usual. She quickly grabbed it by the strap, and placed it onto her head.

"You have a big day of racing ahead," she muttered to herself as she unlocked her front door (which was made from the finest strawberry candy canes in the game, of course). She then stumbled outside, covering her eyes from the overly bright sunlight that suddenly flooded her vision.

"Stupid candy houses," she muttered as she vigorously blinked in order to try and adjust her vision to the sudden light. "If they weren't made of sweets we could install lights, and we wouldn't have to have our eyes seared out by the sun every morning."

As she sighed and gently shook her head, she impatiently continued to walk to the shed which they kept their karts every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, as those were the days where it 'snowed' Vanilla icing at night, which clogged up the karts and deemed then unusable until Sour Bill cleaned them out.

"Time to claim today's trophy," she mumbled as she caught sight of the translucent shed made out of sun-durable white gummy bears.

As she walked into the shed she noticed that Candlehead was preparing her kart to go, which was strange, considering she had only come tenth at the random roster race yesterday.

"Hey Candlehead, are you racing today?" Taffyta questioned, offering a smile to her friend.

"Yeah, Gloyd dropped out becau..." Suddenly Candlehead stopped mid sentence, staring at Taffyta with wide eyes. Her mouth began quivering, prompting Taffyta to star at her with one eyebrow raised; questioning both her physical and mental health. Without warning, Candlehead exploded into laughter.

'Taffyta', 'Gloyd' and 'carrots' were the only words Taffyta could make out between the loud giggles Candlehead was laughing. Taffyta simply shook her head and walked away to get her kart as Candlehead began laughing while lying on the ground, claiming that something was "too funny!"

Taffyta jumped into her kart, reversing slightly to make sure everything was in working order, before speeding forward towards the race track, leaving Candlehead's laughter in the distance.

It didn't take long for her to arrive, and position her car in the fourth spot in the first row, as she had earned fourth place at the random roster yesterday. She then rushed over to her stand of fans, crawling under the bleacher to where she stashed her strawberry lollipops.

She unwrapped the sugary treat as she crawled out of the stand, immediately jumping up and exclaiming, "Stay sweet!"

As she gracefully landed, she frowned. Usually her fans would be cheering and chanting her name, but today they were just mumbling between themselves and occasionally glancing towards her.

"They'll come to their senses when I race," she begrudgingly muttered as Jubaleena's stand of fans began to cheer for their racer.

"Hey Taffyta, nice helmet!" Taffyta suddenly heard Adorabeezle exclaim as the dark-haired racer let out a small giggle.

"Thanks," Taffyta hesitantly replied, narrowing her eyes at the other racer.

After staring at the giggling girl for a while, she ripped her gaze away in favour of walking over to her kart and sitting in it, gently rubbing her temples as she prepared herself for the races that were bound to start soon; the arcade was opening in a few minutes.

As time ticked closer to opening, Taffyta noticed that both Vanellope and Rancis weren't at the starting line. She wasn't surprised that Vanellope wasn't there, as the girl could glitch to the start line within a matter of seconds; but Rancis? He was usually first at the start line.

"Arcade's open, Kids," Taffyta suddenly heard Mr Litwick exclaim as the sound of laughing children filled her ears. Taffyta couldn't help but jump as Vanellope appeared in the second spot of the first row.

"Have you seen Rancis, Van?" She asked her friend once her racing heart had calmed down. Taffyta noticed that two young boys, around ten years old, began to walk towards the console.

"He overslept, he'll be here any second though!" Vanellope muttered, biting her lip slightly. "Are you really going to race with your helmet like that, Taffy?"

The blonde was about to ask what Vanellope was talking about when she realised that she hadn't done up the clip under her chin. "That must be what Van was referring to?"

As she clipped the straps of her helmet together, Vanellope let out a giggle. "Alright then."

"Why is everyone laughing at me today?" Taffyta asked herself with a growl as she looked behind her to see some of the other racers pointing at her. Her gaze soon turned to a speeding kart heading towards the start line. "Finally! Rancis is here."

"Sorry I'm late," the boy apologised as he took the 5th place spot, directly behind Taffyta. "Taffyta?"

"What is it?" She sighed as one of the ten-year old boys placed a quarter in the machine.

"Why aren't you wearing your strawberry helmet?" Rancis questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I am!" Taffyta immediately snapped, scoffing slightly.

"Taffyta, you're wearing a _vegetable_ hat," Rancis whispered.

Taffyta's eyes widened as she leaned out of her kart, almost falling out in an attempt to see herself in the mirror of the kart next to her. She gasped as she saw that someone had replaced her helmet with a vegetable replica. Instead of the faint outline of strawberry seeds on a sparkly pink background, there were mini tomatoes and lettuces painted on an orange background. On top was the stem of a carrot, instead of her usual strawberry leaves. "I can't believe I mistook _this thing_ for my helmet in the dark this morning."

Instantly tears began prickling in her eyes, especially when Gloyd began to roll on the ground laughing, before exclaiming, "Best! Prank! Ever!"

"Where's my real helmet, Orangeboar?" She snapped, her voice shaking.

"I've hid it," he snickered. "You'll have to race like that all day, Veggie-ta."

"Hey look at Taffyta!" One of the boys, who had just inserted a quarter, muttered. "She's wearing a weird veggie helmet."

"What a weird thing for the creators to program in!" The other added. "I wonder if she races any differently with this other helmet? Is it a glitch?"

Taffyta gasped as the boy selected her. She knew she'd have to race with the vegetable monstrosity on her head. She felt herself begin to shake from humiliation as the starting light flashed from red to yellow.

"I think I know where it is," she heard Rancis whisper as the light turned green. Before she had the chance to ask him where, she was off; the ten year-old boy controlling her was swerving left and right way too many times for Taffyta's liking.

The blonde wasn't one to usually feel self-conscious, but with this helmet on, every time one of the children in the arcade laughed, she felt they were laughing at her. She could barely hold back the tears of humiliation that were threatening to spill as neared the finish line in second place to Vanellope.

"Stay strong, Taffyta." Van whispered as they got closer and closer to the finish line. "I'll glitch to second and let the player win, then it'll be all over."

"Taffyta nodded as Vanellope glitched behind her a second before she crossed the finish line, allowing the ten-year old boy who was controlling her to win.

"Taffyta's veggie helmet makes Van glitch backwards," the boy exclaimed as he and his friend moved on to play a different game.

Taffyta felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks as Vanellope hopped out of her kart to give her a hug. "Don't worry, Taffy. We'll find your helmet soon! You'll just have to put up with wearing that helmet for a little longer"

"Can't I just race without it?" She pleaded, attempting to use puppy eyes, although she wasn't very successful.

"You know you were programmed to race with a helmet. The game will glitch, and not in a good way, if you don't wear one."

Taffyta grimly nodded as she fanned herself with her hands, trying to stop herself from crying. "Where's Rancis?"

The two friends looked up at the leader board, only to see he was out of the race, as he had gone off the track.

"Did he crash?" Taffyta gasped, her tears refusing to stop falling. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she really like Rancis, even more than friends even.

"I'll go and see if he's alright," Vanellope immediately volunteered, glitching away.

"I hope he's okay," Taffyta whispered, her heart aching slightly. She hated it when that boy injured himself.

Eventually the tears slowed, and then stopped. Taffyta quickly stumbled over to her stand of fans, offering them a watery smile as they cheered for her despite the vegetable helmet on her head.

Suddenly Vanellope glitched in front of Taffyta, a Cheshire cat smile planted on her face. "I found him! He's not injured at all."

Taffyta let out a sigh of relief as she heard the news of the boy's safety. "Where is he?"

"Right over there!" Vanellope shouted with a jump of excitement and a confident smirk on her face.

Rancis was speeding towards the two, trying to hold back an excited grin. As he approached he hit the brakes of his kart, skidding to a halt near the two girls.

"I'll leave you two alone," Vanellope sniggered as she glitched away.

"Where were you during the race?" Taffyta immediately questioned, staring at Rancis.

"I don't like seeing you upset," he whispered with a shrug as he walked up to Taffyta and rubbed the tear-stains on her face away. "I remembered that I saw Gloyd rushing towards the Laffy Taffy with something hidden in the backpack. I decided to go and see if your helmet was there instead of racing."

"Rancis, you lost the race to try and find my helmet." Taffyta questioned, feeling honoured.

"Yeah," Rancis answered, a blush forming on his face. "And look what I found!"

The boy pulled the shining pink strawberry helmet that Taffyta usually wore out from behind his back."

"My Helmet!" Taffyta exclaimed, a bright smile finding its way onto her face. Immediately she unclipped the vegetable helmet Gloyd had pranked her with and placed her normal helmet back onto her head. "Thank you, Rancis." She happily kissed him on the cheek.

"It was nothing. I enjoy hearing the Laffy Taffy sing anyway." He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But they only sing when true love is present," Taffyta chimed.

"Yeah, they do. I-I was thinking of you, Taffyta," he admitted, offering her an uncharacteristically shy smile.

A smile formed on Taffyta's face. As she wrapped her arms around the back of the boy and hugged him tightly, before the two stared at each other in the eyes. Taffyta then gently leaned in and gently placed a kiss on Rancis's lips.

"Will you been my girlfriend, Taffyta?" Rancis asked after the girl pulled away. Taffyta sweetly smiled, a blush finding its way onto her face.

"Of course I will, Rancis." She accepted, offering her hand for him to hold. Rancis gently grabbed the hand of his true love as he smiled at her.

Without warning, Vanellope glitched in front of the two. "Sorry to break up this love fest, but someone just entered a quarter." The girl with candy in her hair then glitched away, overly excited for the next race.

"We better hurry to the start line," Rancis whispered, gently hugging his girlfriend. "But do you want to visit the chocolate hot springs later? On a date."

"I'd love too, Rancis." She answered, kissing him on the cheek. "How about I meet you at the finish line?" She teasingly smirked as she began to rush to her kart, jumping in as the player was choosing who she wanted to play as.

Taffyta definitely couldn't wait for all the races of the day to end, so she could go on her first date with her true love.


End file.
